Homeland

How long before that bike gets stolen.

I made a comment about photos on another thread how sometimes I really find them odd. What is the purpose of the bike in the picture? Are prospective buyers supposed to get really excited about the prospect of getting a free bike if willing to pay $9 mil plus?? Add this to the sane category as pictures of apartments with dogs in them…sorry even though I love dogs, it’s ridiculous to include a live dog in a picture of a real estate listing…just say pets allowed in the listing!

Nice enough I suppose. Certainly appears to have high-end finishes and some thoughtful, if limited, arrangement of a narrow building. However, no elevator, and a shared fire escape with #21 on the front of the building. Long walk upstairs to bring laundry from the cellar to the bedrooms, and food to the roof terrace.

Aaron, you think the person replacing Clare will be doing the laundry and cooking?

So they put in a million for a renovation and are going to barely get their inflation-adjusted money back after a 12 year hold. Another NY home purchase gone wrong.

@George - exactly my thought when I first saw listing

Also was discussing with friends - it's kind of funny how above a certain level, you are paying 99% for location. Essentially exponentially increasing cost for rarity.

We both found it funny that a $10M listing boasted of things like Miele appliances, Sonos speakers and a pizza oven I can buy at Williams Sonoma .. all things you can have in a $1M condo or my sub-$1M house in nowhere.

Kind of like the old Warhol quote about how rich & poor drink the same Coca Cola in America, lol.

With respect to this: "Another NY home purchase gone wrong."

I doubt that is how they view it - they lived in it for 12 years and could not rent the equivalent for 12 years. I suspect they got lots of joy out of that they can well afford.

Of course if their purpose was to make money off of their primary residence, then yes, it was a bust.

Their purpose was to live in and enjoy their primary residence.
There's nothing gone wrong at all.

Steve,

While I agree that real estate is about location first, high end paneled appliances can be easily $50k and they work as signalling effect. Personally I prefer sub-zero (I think their fridge is sub-zero not Miele) and Wolf for a historic house.

Fridge $10k+$3k paneling (Sub zero a few K more).
Miele Double Oven another $10k.

https://www.ajmadison.com/c/panel-ready-refrigerators/?brands=Miele&attributes.exterior_width=36

https://www.ajmadison.com/c/wall-ovens/?attributes.walloven_style=Double&brands=Miele

Since we are being real estate critics: Pix 10. Staircare step corners. Very unsafe and don't really belong in a historic house.

I agree about $25k of appliances in a $12m property - so what! As for drinking the same Coke, remember that Coke costs 50¢ at the discount store, $1.50 at Gristides, $2 at a vending machine, $6 at a fancy restaurant, and $10 at a ballgame or concert. So there's a 20x difference for the same thing. Location, location, location.

As for losing $$ on a home purchase, whenever I tie up $12 million (which isn't often) I get realad if it doesn't perform, whether it's an investment in shares or a home.

* I get real mad

The location has gone downhill since they purchased it. And it still has no backyard

That stretch of Downing has never been my favorite. Narrow with some ugly/hulking tenements. What happened in the past 12 years?

Re: stairs that "... don't really belong in a historic house." There is nothing left about the interior that is historic. The fireplace surrounds appear to be original, as do the radiator water pipes in the corners of the rooms (why not hide those?), but beyond that, I don't think a single thing was saved. The street is landmarked, but the building across the street is anonymous early-century apartments, and there's a modern building next to it.

Wow, what a tough crowd! I'm sure the current owners have lived there and thoroughly enjoyed their experience over the last 12 years. Certainly a bullish sign that they have 110 saves on StreetEasy after just 4 days. Whether that materializes to anything tangible, who knows? No backyard is certainly going to be a big negative for a townhouse buyer, although there is a decent amount of usable outdoor space. I'll take a flyer, I think it'll be in contract in 45 days.

Aaron,

In most of these house over 150 years old not much can be saved in the interior if you have to do gut reno - plumbing, electric, central ac, expand bathrooms, redo the joists, staircases as they have sagged or the layout has changed. Many of these also have seen several past uses and layout changes. It is much more about renovating about some respect to history and not busting shins of people with sharp step corners.

@300: You had said that the stairs don't belong in a historic house, and I was only pointing out that there's nothing historic left. I agree that the design is inappropriate for any other period than the current one, and, in terms of design, presents safety and comfort risks.
@keith: 12 years of home happiness is more than many get, and I'm happy for the current owners if they got it. It wouldn't make me happy (particularly at that price), and I think it will be closer to 180 days before another happy purchaser goes into contract.

You can't put a price on happiness ; )

>> So they put in a million for a renovation and are going to barely get their inflation-adjusted money back after a 12 year hold.

Is the is really only a million for renovations? What say you, 300?

The DOB permit estimates alone add up to just under a million. I figure that’s missing all sorts of costs, like architect costs, etc., no? It took a year before DOB permits were filed, and there’s a $1.2m mortgage coincident with construction permits being filed. And seems like at least 6 months of construction time.

So kinda smells like $1.5m in renovation costs, plus 1.5 years of carrying time on $8m capital (half mortgaged), plus taxes etc.

Nada, I looked at the old listing. Unfortunately that doesn't have a floor plan but does say 4 bathrooms. Also, the previous owners seem to have been renovated at some point of time.

2012/13 reno costs in NYC were probably 60-65% of what they are today. So $1mm is very possible with designer/high-end contractor if they didn't change the bathroom locations and layout (staircase seems to be in the same place) by much. The current reno is not townhouse high-end level even though very tasteful.

From wiki: Her dad seems to have some insights in the construction as former General Contractor.

Are the estimates filed with the DOB generally inclusive of everything, or just some of the costs? For whatever was filed here, those added up to $750-800K. I figure there are likely other items (does estimate for DOB cover the $50k of appliances???) and room for overages — hence the very specific second mortgage at $1.165M coinciding with the DOB permit filing. Also, I’m thinking about the timing of paying the architect to do the work culminating in the filing.

Usually DOB estimates don't cover Appliances, high-end finishes and fees.

Following up: And it's Keith for the win: Listing states that it went into contract on 10/9/24: 44 business days! Good call.

Meanwhile, my favorite apartment finally went into contract, after over 1200 business days on the market. The stuffy co-op market isn't completely dead!

Favorite apartment link?

https://streeteasy.com/building/820-5-avenue-new_york/3fl

thanks for sharing!

how much will that cost to reno?

It's around 7,000 square feet, and I assume a) it will be a down to the frame renovation even if the broker babble says it's "architecturally important" (the floorplan has only minor changes from the 1916 layout, and those are probably 50 yrs old), b) the new owners are at least as well off as the prior owners.

I'll say right around $4.5 mill, and will be painted only in shades of very expensive white with names no less ridiculous than these: https://www.aiweirdness.com/new-ai-paint-colors/. (I'm partial to Indignant Violet, though Gary the Tennis Ball is pretty good.)

AD or Veranda will feature it in fall 2028, if the new owners haven't been arrested or gone bankrupt.